Autodidact: Journaling System

Bullet Journal (B.#.)

  • The Bullet Journal is your space for getting organized, tracking habits, and taking action.
  • The Bullet Journal is the most actionable journal you have. The whole purpose of the BuJo is to give yourself clear directives each day.
  • It replaces your calendar, to-do, list, habit tracker, and more!
  • B.#. is the Bullet Journal’s Notebook Code.
    • It means Blue and then the number of Bullet Journals you’ve had.
    • If it’s your first BuJo the code would be B.1.
    • If it’s your third, the code would be B.3.

Symbols

image

Task:

  • Things we want to act upon.

Task Completed:

  • Actions we’ve completed.

Task Migrated:

  • Actions we failed to do today, but should do within week.

Task Scheduled:

  • Actions that must be taken in the coming month or months.

Task Irrelevant:

  • Actions that were either delegated or have become unnecessary.

Priority:

  • Especially important tasks.

Note:

  • Things we want to remember.

Event:

  • Things we’ve experienced.

Obsolete Symbols

Think About:

  • Used to use as a way to jot down a problem or question that I wanted to intentionally think through.
  • Now, I just add it as a task, with the action being to add it to its appropriate index in my Workbook.

Idea:

  • Used to use as a way to jot down an that I wanted to remember and eventually create.
  • Now, I just add it as a task, with the action being to add it to its appropriate index in my Workbook.

Sections

Index:

The Index will help you quickly find your content and give you a bird’s-eye view of the things demanding your time and attention. An Index is made up of Collections that have Titles and Page Number(s).

  • Think of you Bullet Journal like a customizable tool kit. The Index lives at the front of your notebook and serves to help you find your tools.
  • The tools we use are designed to organize and group related information. That’s why we call them Collections.
    • Common Collections include include goals, fitness trackers, reading lists, meeting or class notes, and more.
    • Chances are you’ll generate a lot of different types of collections over time.
  • To keep your collections organized, simply add their Titles and Page Number(s) to the Index as in the example below.
    • Note, they don’t have to be sequential.
    • You can create new instances of Collections, anywhere in your notebook, and still keep them neatly organized using the Index.
  • Remember, that you do not need to add Daily Logs to the Index.
  • In the Bullet Journal there is no need to put Collection Codes, which I will introduce in the Workbook section; however, at some point you may want to breakdown a project from your Workbook or Commonplace into Tasks in your Bullet Journal, in order to get an overview of the actions that must be taken for a project’s completion.
    • In this case, put the Collection Code from the other journal into your index.
    • In this instance, don’t for get to add the Notebook’s Code too.
  • Below you’ll see this concept explained with R.1.A.21., but don’t get overwhelmed I explain all of this in greater depth later.
    • R.1. stands for your first Workbook, meaning 1st Red.
    • A. stands for the first Sub-Index from your Meta-Index in your Workbook.
      • In my specific example, the first Sub-index I put in my Workbook was for Video Scripts.
    • 21. stands for the 21st entry in your Sub-Index.
      • In my Video Script Index, this “My Perfect Journaling System” video was my 21st Idea.
image
  • Another good thing to remember is that when a Collection is not sequential you can add by writing where the next section of the Collection’s sequence can be found at the bottom page number.
    • For example:
      • image

Future Log

The Future Log is a time machine that allows you to glimpse the life that you are working towards.

  • Located right after the index pages, the Future Log is a Collection where you can store Tasks and Events that fall outside of the current month.
  • More than just being a type of calendar, the Future Log also provides an overview of your commitments over time. It can help you stay mindful of what you allow into your life.
  • You can lay out your Future Log to look as far forward as you need to. Below is a simple six-month example.
image

Monthly Log

Part timeline, part task list, part habit-tracker the Monthly Log helps you to reset, reprioritize, and recommit to the things you choose to allow into your life.

My way of keeping a Monthly Log:

image

Habit Tracker:

  • On the left you’ll find the Habit Tracker. This section is a quick and easy way to track anything you want: wake-up times, a content schedule, reading, etc.
  • For habits that aren’t daily, I go through and choose the days I want to perform the habit and put a Task bullet on those days. I leave the days I don’t want to do the habit blank.
    • For the days that are left blank, I put the Event bullet “0” to show the day has passed. This helps me see where I am and what needs to be accomplished tomorrow.
    • This works well too for tracking reading because it also looks like a zero, if nothing was read that day.
      • Another note about tracking reading, I normally put a negative page number if it is something I am re-reading or going through again to add to my Commonplace notebook.
  • If a habit is successfully completed put the ‘X’ over the bullet point.
  • If the task is not completed either:
    • Leave the bullet point as it is to indicate you failed to accomplish the habit. This is for things that were missed that can’t be migrated and did not become irrelevant.
    • For things like a goal of doing something on or by a date, just migrate the task with the “>” symbol and choose a new day.
    • If the task become irrelevant mark a dash through it like so “—”.

Calendar:

  • The Calendar I use for all tasks that are tied to specific days and times.
  • At the beginning of each month I refer back to my Future Log and add any Tasks I see here.

Timeline:

  • The Timeline is used mostly not for events that will happen (although birthdays are the exception) but for things that have already happened.
  • But I use the Timeline as a log for recording things that have happened in my life that I want to remember.
    • Each night I look back on my day and ponder the memories that were most unique an special then I add them to the Timeline.
    • This is useful for giving you a general idea about what was happening in your life on any particular day.

Miscellaneous:

  • Finally, I use the Miscellaneous section as a catch all for anything that is important to remember for this month.
  • Maybe it’s things to look out for or remember.
  • Sometimes it will be Tasks that have no particular time or place for when they need to be completed, but nonetheless I want to complete them before the month ends.
  • Also, I often I like to put my goals for the month here too.

Bujo’s way of keeping Monthly Log:

image

Timeline:

  • On the left page you’ll find the Timeline. Though it can be used as a traditional calendar by adding upcoming events, the recommended way to use the Timeline is to log events after they’ve happened. This will provide you with a more accurate and useful record of your life.

Task List:

  • On the right page is your monthly task list. It’s designed to help you organize and prioritize your monthly Tasks. It consists of new Tasks, Future Log items scheduled for this month, and any important unfinished Tasks from the previous month.

Daily Log

The Daily Log is designed to declutter your mind and keep you focused throughout the day.

  • The Daily Log is the workhorse of BuJo. To set yours up, simply write down the date, then log your thoughts as they bubble up. To make this process quick and easy, we use a technique known as Rapid Logging.
  • Rapid Logging allows you to quickly capture and categorize your thoughts as bulleted lists. Each bullet represents on of three categories of thought:
    • image
    image

Miscellaneous

Here are some final things I want to say about my Bullet Journaling system.

  • This is the one journal I will carry around with me each day no matter what.
    • I almost can’t live without it anymore. I like having it with me all the time so that I can always easily jot things down.
    • This process is much more easy and enjoyable for me than using my Notes app or Notion on my phone.
  • Because I received so much value and peace of mind from my BuJo, it was easy for me to adopt it into my life.
    • But if you believe it will be hard for you to adopt, I recommend “habit-stacking” until the habit is built.
    • You likely already carry a phone, wallet, and keys everywhere you go. Try making your BuJo your wallet by using its folder.
  • Finally, your BuJo is meant to serve you, not the other way around!
    • Don’t get bogged down thinking about whether or not something should or shouldn’t go in your BuJo. If you think it will be useful add it!
    • There is no wrong way to BuJo in reality, all these rules are just to make it better serve you, if at any moment they become a hindrance to your goal forget the rules.
    • The only warning, is that you should never not add things to your Index. This is the one habit I wouldn’t go away with because if your BuJo gets disorganized, it no longer can serve you or bring you peace and clarity.
  • With all that being said, here are some examples of useful and creative Collections I’ve made for myself. I hope they give you some ideas and inspiration!

Workbook (R#)

  • The Workbook is your space for creativity and thinking through decisions, concepts, and ideas.
  • The elegance of my Workbook system is found in its simple structure of indexes within indexes.
  • The Workbook has almost no rules or systems other than this, which makes it very freeing.
  • The purpose of the Workbook is to bring projects to completion, not by outlining task (as in BuJo), but by giving you the space to work your ideas through.
    • It is the second most actionable journal, but its the place where a lot of your Tasks will be done.

Index

Writing Index

Video Index

Art Index

Knowledge Management (Journaling System) Index

Endeavors Index

Diary Index

Journal Index

Dream Journal Index

Big Project Index

do picture of my index.=

Commonplace Book (Y#)

  • This is the least actionable of the journals.

Index

the rules of indexes in journal

Here are some interesting journals I’ve included with my Index:

Literature Index

Art Index

Cinema Index

Travel Index

Lecture Index

Drama Index

YouTube Index

Podcast Index

Reading Index

Commonplaces Index

Reading Index

Resources

Notebooks

Bullet Journal

  • If you want to get an actual BuJo edition, go for this one:
  • But it isn’t completely necessary (unless it’s your first time), so I like this blue better:

Workbook

Commonplace Book

Content

  • The best video explaining the BuJo method. It was made by the creator himself Ryder Carroll:
  • My favorite video on the variety of journaling methods, but I think his analysis is lacking in one sense, he does not assign “Creation” as a use of notebooks. Either way, worth the watch:
  • ParkNotes’ entire channel is worth going through if your are interested in this sort of thing:
  • This is the book on the Bullet Journal Method. It is definitely not necessary unless you seriously want to “geek-out.” I pirated it off off of Anna’s Archive and then skimmed it, focusing on the graphics. Then, my local library had the audio for free, so I listened to it. Like I said, not necessary, but it is good if you are interested:
Cover.
Created time
May 20, 2025 10:17 PM